Naruto the Phantom
by Badgefox
Summary: When no one likes him... when the world seems to look down on him, when he constantly receives looks of contempt, he still smiles. Yet what really exist beyond that idiotic face of Naruto Uzumaki? The child treated as a demon himself? How will everyone deal with this new Naruto, who he's never let them see, and what about the tailed beast?


Naruto, The Phantom Jinjurriki

This series is based off the Anime Naruto and Naruto Shippudden. I in no way claim ownership or selling rights on these and the purpose of this is for criticism and fair use. That being said, this is a variation of the original Naruto storyline. The things that take place in this story do not always revolve around the anime plot. I am very open to criticism as it could help in the future. Thanks for reading, now skip the last bit of this sentence and read… you didn't skip did you?

When the 4th Hokage sealed Naruto he should have put all of his chakra in the seal, but why did he spend the rest of it talking to the 3rd? What became of his wife after the attack?

Chapter 1 Naruto's Fall

"I can't believe this!" A desperate blonde yelled as he punched a tree in the night. Blood erupted from his hand as he continued to pound on the tree. "I was supposed to pass! How could this happen?! I didn't even know the scroll was restricted! Grgh!" His aching fist hit the tree once more as the bark began to shake. A few animals could be heard scampering away as the commotion echoed through the area. "I wanna be a ninja! I wanna I wanna I wanna! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO JUST FOR PEOPLE TO EXCEPT ME?!" He yelled in the night at the top of his lungs. Tears of anger and frustration ran down his face as blood began to bleed from the gungs of his clenched teeth. His clothes were torn, muddy and bruises coated his body from his recent encounter.

-Flash back-

The "dead last" of the leaf village sat alone at the swing set as the other students bragged about their graduation. All year he had expected to pass with them, but rather than passing he flunked spectacularly. It wasn't surprising since he always skipped class… even to the point he had to be chased down. Add to the fact that he was parentless and lived by himself, he had no parental guidance to encourage him. He just went through each day not caring… with an ignorant smile on his face.

However, that smile was nonexistent today. In its place was a despaired look that practically went off like a white flag. He had failed the test to become a ninja in every way... 3 times, and there was nothing he could do to prove he should even be in the field… much less be the Hokage. The people he argued and yelled at for doubting him now stood there laughing at his misfortune and karma, and he had nothing left to say to them as he kicked his blue sandals in the dust. He sat there silently as every other student was greeted by proud parents. He hid it out of fear and spite, but he was technically already a ninja. Just one in a kids body. One day he hoped to show them what he really was, but that day clearly, clearly wasn't today.

The sun was setting when he finally looked up from the ground. "I can't believe it… I failed again… … Why does this keep happening?" he said dryly before slowly looking up with tearful eyes. The sun light didn't reach his eyes as a shuriken bearing figure stepped in front of him.

"Hey kid… you're the one that failed… Naruto right?" the white haired ninja asked casually. Normally the blonde would have said something obnoxious or witty but he just silently looked up at the man. "You know, I'm normally not such a kind person… it's my favorite hobby to make fun of dobes like you… but seeing how determined you were, I guess I'll give you a chance to be a ninja in my own test" The blonde's eyes lit up as he stared at the man. He looked like an ordinary ninja… a friendly one for that matter. "N-ninja?" Naruto responded in partial disbelief. The man smirked as he turned around. "You didn't know? Your Sensei Iruka was only one Sensei of the hidden leaf… but I'm one as well" the man said before looking back over his shoulder. He was clearly playing on the blonde's (face of) idiocy. "Want to know a secret?... a reeeal secret, Kid?" the man said as he leaned forward to he blonde. Naruto nodded his head in curiosity.

"There's more than one way to become a ninja. All you have to do is pass the test I give you" the man said in a strangely low tone. Naruto quickly stood up before wiping away the tears on his face. "Really? You mean it?! Let me at it! I can handle anything you dish out!" the blonde yelled as he gave the man a thumbs up. The man smiled at the kids sudden enthusiasm and turned around with an unrolled scroll. "Okay… all you have to do is get this scroll and meet me in the forest at 6 sharp". "Pffbt, that's all? This'll be much easier than I thought!" Naruto said as he recalled where the scrolls were kept.

Naruto never saw what happened next coming. It all hit him in the face as he found himself in the worst moment of his life.

_Now_

Naruto was crying against the tree he had been pounding at for the last hour. The words of the man who tricked him earlier played back over and over in his head along with the vivid imagery of the stolen scroll, his Injured Sensei and his foolishness through the whole thing.

_Flash Back_

"You want to know the secret that badly?! They'll hunt you down for this, brat! The 9 -tailed demon that attacked this village was sealed inside you! That's why no one likes you; why they never liked you! Even your parents! No one in their right mind would let a "dumb blonde" like you be a ninja, Hahahaha!" the man yelled menacingly before disappearing into the night with the scroll. The blonde slowly stood up in shock at what had happened. He had delivered the scroll, but as soon as his Sensei, Iruka came a large Shuriken almost sliced the two in half! Everything after that was a blur and now Naruto was shuriken'd to a tree while Iruka lay wounded. His clothes began to tear apart as he hastily got up and ran to his wounded Sensei. "Iruka! Iruka Sensei! Iruka Sensei wake up! You've got to wake up! Iruka Sensei!" Naruto yelled to his maimed teacher. "Nhhhhhhharutohh" Iruka said as he slowly stood up "What were you thinking?!" he yelled at the already traumatized blonde. "I-I-I-I-I but I I, he I I… I'M SORRY IRUKA SENSEI! I'm SO SORRY! I REALLY DON'T DESERVE TO BE A NINJA!" the blonde yelled before taking off into the night. He didn't dare look back at the pain he just caused his Sensei as he tore through the woods.

_NOW_

A couple of days passed after this, and Naruto was shivering, hungry and alone in a vast forest. The "celebratory-I became a ninja-rice ball" he saved had been thrown to birds in a spout of rage, but now he really wished he had it. It clouded his mind along with his most recent mistake.

Naruto shook his head trying to get rid of the memory, but it only came back stronger and more vivid than before. He clenched his head as he tried to calm down, but inside he was tearing at both himself and the perceived demon within. Tearing with all of his heart and frustration as he tried to come to terms with the trouble he was in now.

"How could I do this?! How could this happen?! How could this happen?! I don't believe it! The 9-tails can't be sealed inside me can it?!" he said as his mind began to piece together all the clues.

The people he heard murmuring "that demon" as he walked by…

The looks of contempt they gave him…

The reason he was banned from stores… even before he started doing pranks

Even why some of his classmates treated him so badly when he was being the friendliest.

The more he denied it the more it began to make sense. They knew… some of them did… even the teachers… or maybe it was just because he pulled pranks.

"It only makes sense… sometimes I even… hear this deep voice" Naruto said to himself as he lifted his hand. "Still… I'm not some demon! Just because I cause trouble doesn't mean I'm some roaring, village stomping, gut wrenching fox who makes towns its playground of pain!" Naruto said as he waved leafs around with his hand.

"Why does everyone treat me like I'm the demon?! If it's so bad then it's that things own fault!" He said as he threw the leaf. It launched into the bark of a tree before slipping through the other side.

Slowly the blonde was becoming more and more sick with how things had been going.

"I hoped to not use this until I was a ninja! Just to show off and prove that I wasn't a failure! I hoped that I wouldn't have to resort to this yet, but desperate times call for desperate measures!" Naruto said as he got ready to stand up.

Grunts of pain and anger started to leave his mouth as killing intent flowed around his body. "That guy is going to pay for what he did!" Naruto said as he became more serious.

 **"Amusing"** Naruto's heart sank as a deep, powerful voice echoed all around him. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Who, who's there?!" he stuttered before standing up in the dark night.

 **"You'd blame me for everything, which is why you always stay dead last among those maggots"** the voice sent chills down his spine as he looked around the forest. The blonde put his fist up as he got in an aggressive stance. "Show yourself, I'm not afraid of you!" he shouted before swinging at the air.

The voice began to chuckle as the blonde became more annoyed. The more annoyed he became the more it laughed and the harder he swung. Naruto hit his peak and closed his eyes as his hands dug into his scalp. He was almost beyond frustrated. "RRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Stop laughi-"

 **"How about now, human scum?"** Naruto opened his eyes, but instead of frustration he was shocked. Instead of a forest full of trees there was now a large, dark and smelly room with an ominous presence filling it. Almost immediately he looked down at the sewage like liquid that flowed around his open sandals. "Ewwwww, what is this stuff? Where am I?!" He said in an increasingly frantic tone. A loud growl echoed through the air and right through his body. The blonde shook in his place as the presence of something much larger than him approached from behind. He nearly wet himself as a hot gust of air blew right through him. (Maybe it's just a bear… or a dog…) he thought to himself as he began to turn. He would rather have seen his dying Sensei than what was staring him in the eye once he turned around. Just as he did, five claws darted toward him like lightning, stopping an inch from his face and making him forget that he still had to go. He didn't dare breathe as he stared at the monster beyond a large set of bars.

 **"Hmhmhmhm, I guess I can't kill you yet."** The demon growled as its claws went back to the other side. It was an orange- red color and its paws were weirdly humanoid. Naruto sat with gaping eyes in his own puddle of piss as the demon stared at him with an evil smile. Killer intent seemed to radiate from its presence alone.

"You… you're the 9-tails…it was you I heard in my thoughts…" Naruto trailed off as it stared him in the eye. "That jerk… meant… to tell me that YOU'RE sealed inside me?! Couldn't they have found a _MOUNTAIN_ or something to seal you in?! WHO SEALS A DEMON IN A CHILD?!" Naruto's volume rose as he stared at the fox. It let out a small chuckle as it nodded its head, but that small chuckle made everything in the room vibrate. Once more the hot air from its mouth rushed right through the blonde, making him feel like he was on fire. His hair melted to his sides as sweat covered his face.

 **"It's about time you realized the obvious… I wouldn't have chalked up a boy who uses ignorance as a face to be so blind… Naruto"** the demons words caught the blonde off guard. He never even expected it to know his name! "You know my name?" Naruto said as he removed the facade from his face. He wasn't in the mood to be the dumb blonde anymore… especially if it meant hurting those he loved.

 **"I know everything about you, from where you eat to who you have a crush on. Even that you secretly admired my chakra control! I've been inside you all this time!"** the 9-tails' voice ran straight through the blonde as he felt its power bounce off the walls. **"You can't blame me for what happened to your Sensei. From the start you could have ended it all, but you just had to use that façade to impress your maggot Sensei!"** Almost immediately Naruto stood up in anger. He was just about to walk over and punch the fox when its claws darted out at him again.

"Gahh! I thought bigger meant slower!" Naruto shouted as he jumped back. He didn't jump far enough as a finger slammed his lower half back into the water. Terror rushed through the blonde as he found death on top of him. The bottom of 9-tails claw smelled much worse than the water in the room. It was suffocating to say the least. **"You'd better be greatful to me… and to that darn 4th Hokage who sealed me inside you!"** the 9-tails growled as its hand returned to the other side. On the way its claw ripped straight through the blonde's orange jacket.

It made him scream in pain… almost as if he was dreaming and the pain leaked to his real body.

Almost immediately Naruto backed far away from the cage before sitting up. Once more the two were caught in a deadlock. The atmosphere in the room began to change as Naruto kept his eyes locked on it. It was becoming… redder. As it did the water flow changed, and the blonde found himself being pulled back toward the fox. "What the?! I can't move my hands!" Naruto yelled as he found himself within arms reach off the terrifying monster. A smile spread across its face as he struggled, but it wasn't the friendly smile. It was a crooked smile that became more apparent as the blonde was brought closer.

Within moments he found himself on the other side of the cage with the demons red eyes reflecting in the water. The blonde's attempts at freedom were soon stopped as he found a giant hand wrapped around his back.

"What are you doing you stinkin' fox?!" Naruto yelled angrily as it sat up. Suddenly thoughts of hatred and despair began to fill his mind as he sat in the water. His body began to burn as a strange red chakra covered him. His body began to strain as it took over his mind.

 **"Give in"** the beast's words echoed through the blondes shocked ears. He wanted to respond but the feeling was so overwhelming. All he could feel was hatred and anger toward whoever he knew. The voices began to run over each other as a mob formed in his mind.

"Look at that pig!" "That boy is such a brat" "Why doesn't he just run away?" "That idiot can't even tie his shoes but he wants to be a ninja?!" "Stay away from him" "Why doesn't he just go away?" "Serves that demon right… getting sealed inside an infant!"

The voices continued to get louder and louder as he lost control.

The beast let out a chuckle as the blonde fell into darkness, but he was still breathing… calmly.

"…Oh… ohohohoho… What a let down… I expected the hatred of all your victims to overpower me… not for you to send me into a delusional Genjutsu and try to take over my body" the fox's smile vanished as the blonde smirked.

 **"Oh… so you think you're immune to my chakra?"** the 9-tails said rather uneasily. With that the mob of people began to rush toward him with pitchforks and staves. Naruto let out a board sigh before closing his eyes. "Release" with that one word the blonde destroyed the reality created by his hatred. The mob, the world, the voices and every bit of hatred that came with them vanished.

When the blonde opened his eyes he was still on the other side of the cage… right in the same spot.

"… I may not be immune to your chakra… but I am to genjutsu" the blonde said as he stood up.

Rather than a 5-year old brat he sounded like a middle aged man. He had completely removed his face.

"I've seen this place in my dreams…" he said as he looked around with a smirk on his face. "It's kind of ironic… in those dreams I was scared awake just by seeing a red eye… but now that I see your entire front part I'm not even breathing hard" the blonde chuckled as he walked up to the cage. There wasn't a sign of fear in his body. The 9-tails followed his small body with its eye as he walked closer. He stopped just at the edge of the cage before stretching his hand forward. It passed right through the narrow bars and onto the demons hand.

As it did he stopped smiling. "The 9-tailed demon that attacked the village with no remorse… and the mindless fool he was sealed inside since he was a child. Unaware of why no one liked him. Someone could write a novel off of this…" the blonde said as he retracted his hand. "It's pathetic that this world only sees faces upon first impression, instead of what lies inside…" the blonde said in a rather dark tone as he looked up at the demon.

 **"Oh blah blah blah! I didn't come here to here you recite that trash you human maggots call poetry!"** the 9-tails said in a loud tone with a frown. Naruto didn't care though.

"Face it… I'm not some blind little boy who's just going to roll over in your… filthy hatred and let you do what you want with MY body!" Naruto shouted with a smile. He was clearly enjoying himself. **"It's always the blondes"** the 9-tails growled before looking away. Things clearly weren't going as it planned. _"It's always the squirrels… evil things… to think a squirrel attacked my village and everyone calls it a demon fox"_ Naruto said as he walked out of hands reach. When he turned around he was met with a very menacing smile and glowing red eyes.

The two continued to stare at each other; the blonde with a face of boredom and the demon with an annoyed look. It became even more of an uneasy look when the blonde slanted his eyes. "… You do look more like a squirrel than a fox" a tick mark appeared on the fox's head at the blondes statement. **"I am a fox and have always been!"** the fox yelled with an annoyed look. The blonde wasn't listening, and his bored face went more to amusement. "Wait… you look more like a rabbit… yeah, those ears don't lie!" The demon got even more annoyed at the boy as he said this. **"Little bo-"** " _Are you sure you're a fox?_ Did you attack my village because they called you a fox? Did you eat nuts? _Where did you hibernate? Is that how they sealed you?"_ The demon became more and more annoyed as it tried to figure out how to shut him up. **"I would kill you where you stand for asking that!"** the 9-tails said as it stood up.

Naruto showed a slight bit of fear but it vanished as he kept looking at it. "Wait!" The fox narrowed an eye at the boys request. A moment later he was on his hands and knees. Silence briefly filled the room as the boy looked at the fox. "…Man, the history writers must have been _drunk_ to think you're a fox! You don't even stand like one!" the blonde said before laughing out loud and rolling in the sewage. **"I am a fox you brat!"** the 9-tails yelled with an even more annoyed look than before. "No you're not, this is a fox!" Naruto barked before disappearing in a puff of smoke. In a moment the steam cleared, revealing a furry human with deformed hands. The blonde couldn't even stand up straight in the transformation.

Sweat dropped down the side of his face as the demon laughed behind the bars. It laughed so hard that it put a hand on its face and hit the other against the ground, shaking the entire room. **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, You call that a transformation?! I could do better with my hands tied! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"** the volume really did make the room shake, but Naruto wasn't even humiliated. In fact he seemed rather amused himself. "Ha!" Naruto said as he pointed a deformed finger. "You said hands… so you admit that you aren't a fox since they don't have those! I knew it!" the blonde shouted with a stupid grin on the other side of the cage.

The 9-tails immediately stopped laughing and glared at the proud boy on the other side. His face could only be described as the face of a crazed murderer. "I was just testing you! This is a fox!" He said before almost immediately disappearing. In a split second a fox was silently sitting in his place, and there was no puff of smoke signaling that the jutsu was even cast. The 9-tails eyes widened at this…the fox gave off a disturbingly feral vibe considering who transformed into it. He never expected a dumb blonde to even know how to hold the jutsu beyond 5 seconds. **"Pfft A maggot like you would be proud of accomplishing a simple feat like that"** Naruto released the transformation with an annoyed look. "WHAT'S THAT SUPOOSED TO MEAN YOU D*** FOX?!" he yelled at a much louder tone than before. **"It means that you're pathetic, even more so than those ijits you call comrades in that maggot academy"** the nine tails barked with a smirk.

Naruto just stood there silently as what recently happened re-entered his memory. **"You couldn't even hold that form for a day, much less convince anyone that you were a fox! They'd spot you immediately!"** the 9-tails said with an amused look to the boy. "I CAN hold it for that long! I can hold it for 2 days! 4 days! A month for that matter! For that matter I can hold you inside me and you're a-" Naruto cut himself off as he realized the demon outsmarted him. It stared back with a savage smile as he turned away.

"Whatever… I guess you would be proud of that _after being sealed inside a little boy…_ " Naruto said as his voice echoed. **"I don't need your… human pride! You couldn't even pass a simple test to become a ninja, much less beat up a grown man like that. You were to scared.** " The 9-tails barked from the other side of the cage. The blonde paused for a moment after hearing it… enough for the 9-tails to think he proved his point for that matter… but it was apparent that he was hiding something. "Whatever… that's not going to stop me from trying… and the next time I see him… I'm bringing justice!" Naruto said with a fire in his eyes. "He's not getting away with what he's done!" Naruto yelled the fox stared at his back. **"You're just a little boy, and you don't even have decent weapons on you. Add that to the fact that your own Sensei forbids you from being a ninja and you stand no chance… you'll just make things worse…** " the 9-tails said relatively amused. Naruto's hopes appeared to drop at realizing the demon was right. **"No matter who you blame, it was you who chose the events that led up to that situation, and your refusing to deny it is just as much proof of you being a fool as your failing the ninja academy. Even your parents would agree with me, and I killed them."** The 9-tails words pricked Naruto's heart but before he even tried to respond he found himself in the forest… in the same spot. **"You can either stay a worthless maggot who isn't worthy to be a ninja; that I'll kill eventually, or you can run away, save yourself and this village from me destroying it. You're a ticking time bomb because of me, and it's time you realized that man was right. They'll hunt you for me, and if you think being foolish will help anything, you'll never be a ninja. They'll hunt you down for all the trouble you caused them and lock you away, and then you'd be forced to watch me slowly break free and kill everyone you love as you lose control"** the 9-tails said with an incredibly ominous tone. What was even more ominous was that no matter how much Naruto tried to tell himself the 9-tails was trying to trick him, it was just… being honest. "… I don't want to believe it… but what if the 9-tails is right?! What if I really am just a bomb waiting to go off on everyone I love?!"

As Naruto was about to respond he heard someone calling out in the distance. He almost stuttered before silently dashing into a nearby bush. "Sh-shadow clone jutsu" he said silently as a clone took his place. It was much better than his previous ones. **"Remember, if they find you then it's game over"** the 9-tails said to the boy from inside. "I think I heard something… Naruto, is that you?" someone called out.

The clone didn't answer, and the real Naruto stayed hidden inside the bush fearing for his life. Fear was covering every part of his body, he knew he had to act fast.

He signaled to the clone for it to call out. "Iruka sensei, I'm so sorry! I didn't know! He told me that if I got the scroll that he would make me a ninja!"

 **"Advanced Transformation Jutsu"** Naruto said under the clones words. No noise was made as he turned into a fox. It was white with black paws, but it was still decent. As the clone took his place for the bumbling moron he displayed himself as, Naruto stayed hidden inside the bush. A man with a cigar for a torch, black hair and a calm face took the clone back to the village. "Miruki could be anywhere! Spread out and find him!" Another voice said to what… felt like 5 people. Since Naruto usually had his eyes closed he developed a sense of echo location, but his transformation made it much more apparent. He could not only tell the difference in frequency, but even the amount of anger and fear that covered them. "Yes Sir!" the others said before disappearing into thin air. Then everything was silent, but somehow it felt like the man was still there. A normal humans ears wouldn't sense it but the faint sound given from Naruto's breathing was even amplified enough to reflect his presence back. It's like he was just waiting for someone to move. **"Say nothing! The more unsuspicious you try to act, the more suspicious you are."** The 9-tails deep voice made Naruto jump in place, causing the entire bush to rustle. The man whipped his head around to the bush before readying a kunai. "Who's there?!" the man asked before slowly approaching. Naruto bit his teeth as he tried to find a way out. He really would have punched the 9-tails for that. **"Chase that rabbit over there, kit"** the 9-tail's words hit him just as soon as he saw it. As much as he wanted to do otherwise, he didn't see a better idea. Without warning the man opened the bush as his eyes met Naruto's. In that brief moment he shot out of the bush and to the rabbit.

As he did a kunai hit a nearby tree, making him run under another bush. "Just a fox…" the man said as he went to get his kunai. In the bush Naruto was still ready to bolt, and did just that after the man reached his kunai. He didn't throw it as the fox ran away. **"Hm, don't get proud but that was considerably better than everything you did in that academy"** the 9-tails said to him as he ran. "If you hadn't said anything he wouldn't have noti- **"Others can't hear me. Also, that man is following you because you're not acting the part"** Naruto's heart sank as he realized it. Surely enough the man was almost on top of him. (What do I do?!) he thought to himself as the man closed in. Almost immediately his paw hit a root and he stumbled downhill at critical speed. All of his senses were thrown off course as he flew down the foliage in a ball of air and fur. Just as he tried to stop he hit water… a lot of water. He gasped for air as he was carried downstream. **"Nice, he stopped following"** the 9-tails said to the frantic boy as he regained his barrings. He didn't know why the 9-tails was being so vocal now, but it was starting to annoy him. (It's all going according to plan)


End file.
